Mumbai Indians Vs Chennai Super Kinngs 1st IPL Match Prediction

Mumbai Indians Vs Chennai Super Kinngs 1st IPL Match Prediction

While Rohit Sharma will be central to Mumbai Indians’ batting plans, keep an eye out for two exciting left-handers who will most likely open the batting for MI. Evin Lewis, in his first stint in the IPL, and Ishan Kishan , are among the most daring young batsmen of this generation, and can destroy bowling attacks single-handedly. Both batsmen have been in good form too; Lewis was West Indies’ highest run-getter in the World Cup Qualifiers held recently, while Ishan Kishan has been consistently scoring runs in domestic cricket in the last couple of months.

Raina made an India comeback after more than a year was down to his form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: 314 runs in nine T20 innings at a strike rate of nearly 150. In his most recent IPL stint with Gujarat Lions, Raina struck 311 runs off 219 balls at a strike-rate of 142 in the Powerplay. So if the openers fail, CSK still have an attacking No. 3.

The clock may be ticking on Dhoni the T20I finisher, but he still continues to be effective in the end overs. In the past two IPL seasons, Dhoni scored 358 runs off 220 balls for Rising Pune Supergiant at a strike-rate of 163 between overs 16 and 20. It remains to be seen whether he still has those skills this season.

Dwayne Bravo: the first man to take 400 T20 wickets. What’s more special is that nearly half of Bravo’s T20 wickets – 203 out of 413 – have come during the last four overs of an innings, a record.

But it will also go down to two distinct styles the teams have adopted when it came to their squad selection. In order to make good use of home conditions, CSK went heavy banking on spinners while MI have relied on forming a stronger pace attack. And that is where Mumbai could hold an edge over CSK in the opening clash.

Impact Bowlers

Mustafizur Rahman and Jasprit Bumrah (both MI), and Dwayne Bravo (CSK) are the ones likely to cause big-scale damage with the ball. It will be interesting to see how MI utilise the eight overs of Mustafizur and Bumrah, especially given both bowlers have established reputations as outstanding death overs bowlers. CSK will pin their hopes on Bravo, who is the highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket, to keep the opposition on a tight leash – particularly in the death overs.